removing both tires on my super tenere at once

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ballisticexchris

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I'd say the OP has a good reason to pull both at once; he wants to cut down on trips to his dealership to get the tires mounted. One at a time means two trips. If he lives a decent distance from the shop he uses, that could use up a chunk of a day just shlepping his tires around.
Help me understand? Dealership for tire mounting? Never heard of that. I mount and balance my own tires. If you can remove the wheel then mounting/ balance is a breeze. These are as easy as a bicycle tire!
 

RCinNC

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Sorry Chris, not my call. If someone doesn't want to change their own tires, or isn't able to change them for whatever reasons, that's entirely up to them. I've never been one of those "you lose your man card if you don't turn your own wrench" sort of guys, and I'm not going to mechanic-shame anybody. In a perfect world where I had unlimited funds to do unlimited things, I'd never touch my own bike except to ride it. I don't live in that world, though, and I'm not willing to pay someone to do those things, so I do them myself. If the OP has made the call that he is willing to pay someone, then good on him. Mechanics gotta eat too.
 

Xclimation

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Sorry Chris, not my call. If someone doesn't want to change their own tires, or isn't able to change them for whatever reasons, that's entirely up to them. I've never been one of those "you lose your man card if you don't turn your own wrench" sort of guys, and I'm not going to mechanic-shame anybody. In a perfect world where I had unlimited funds to do unlimited things, I'd never touch my own bike except to ride it. I don't live in that world, though, and I'm not willing to pay someone to do those things, so I do them myself. If the OP has made the call that he is willing to pay someone, then good on him. Mechanics gotta eat too.
Have mercy! You have a way with words and a good out look! I was going to find a way to gently suggest the same. I never did my own tires until this bike. I do my own work on my cars/bikes except changing tires. But being the cheapskate and growing up poor and not Bill Gates...I wanted to learn. Saw a list some place that mentioned that one of the essential skills an ADV rider should have is learning to change their own tire on the side of the road. Watching Youtube videos they made it seem easy enough. I also have a slight mistrust of anyone working on my machines and I am meticulous. So I recently changed my own tires as if I were on the side of the road. Rear took my 2.5 hours. Then did front and took me an hour after learning from my experience doing the rear. Willing to best next time I'll do it in 30 to 45 minutes!
But I get what you are saying RCinNC! I wish I had it in me to spend the money....let go....and let someone else touch my machines! I'm kind of also afraid, I'd stand over them and make sure they do this and do that! But I Love your new terminology of "mechanic shaming!"
 

Sierra1

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I guess I use a combo of styles. Both tire(s)/wheel(s) come off at the same time. Why make two trips to the dealer? Yes, I have my dealer mount/balance my tires; I trust THEM more than I trust myself. Back wheel first, 'cuz it's already off the ground. I put the axle back in so nothing is loose, or laying around. Next is the front, floor jack with a piece of wood under the skid plate. Just high enough to get the tire/wheel out. Again, axle back in to keep everything together, AND so I can lower the jack, and use the axle to support the front end with anything that fits between the forks.
 

RCinNC

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Have mercy! You have a way with words and a good out look! I was going to find a way to gently suggest the same. I never did my own tires until this bike. I do my own work on my cars/bikes except changing tires. But being the cheapskate and growing up poor and not Bill Gates...I wanted to learn. Saw a list some place that mentioned that one of the essential skills an ADV rider should have is learning to change their own tire on the side of the road. Watching Youtube videos they made it seem easy enough. I also have a slight mistrust of anyone working on my machines and I am meticulous. So I recently changed my own tires as if I were on the side of the road. Rear took my 2.5 hours. Then did front and took me an hour after learning from my experience doing the rear. Willing to best next time I'll do it in 30 to 45 minutes!
But I get what you are saying RCinNC! I wish I had it in me to spend the money....let go....and let someone else touch my machines! I'm kind of also afraid, I'd stand over them and make sure they do this and do that! But I Love your new terminology of "mechanic shaming!"
I couldn't say I've changed mine exactly the way I would if I did it on the side of the highway; I'd guess there's considerably less swearing and complaining when I do it in my garage. I have made sure that I can change a tire with the only tools that I'd carry with me on a bike, and that I can set a bead and air up a tire from my little mini compressor.

To be honest, with a tubeless tire, the odds of me ever changing one along the road are virtually nil. I carry a plug kit if I get a hole, and if I destroy the tire so badly that it can't be plugged, it's not like I'm normally lugging around a spare. If I was traveling way off the beaten path, like the Road of Bones or something, I might lug a spare tire along, or at least a tube and some tire boot material to get me back to civilization. For the usual kind of cross country touring I do, there really isn't a point to that. I do carry the tools that allow me to remove the front or rear wheel. That way, if I grenade a tire where I can't plug it, I can remove it and take it to a shop to change it (gotta flag down a ride or call an Uber first, naturally). Or, if it reached the point to needing to be changed during a trip, I could pull the wheel in the parking lot of a dealership and take it inside, and save myself the labor cost of them removing it.

It would be a different story if I rode a bike with tubed tires, like an AT. If you get a flat on that, and you don't have the spoons to get the tire off the rim, then you can't get to the tube and either patch it or replace it. Without the spoons, and the convenience of being able to use a tire string, a simple nail can sideline a trip. I'd hate to get stuck on the side of the road for hours waiting for help, when a couple 12" tire spoons would have let me continue on my way in an hour.
 
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ballisticexchris

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Sorry Chris, not my call. I've never been one of those "you lose your man card if you don't turn your own wrench" sort of guys, and I'm not going to mechanic-shame anybody. Mechanics gotta eat too.
I guess I use a combo of styles. Both tire(s)/wheel(s) come off at the same time. Why make two trips to the dealer? Yes, I have my dealer mount/balance my tires; I trust THEM more than I trust myself. Back wheel first, 'cuz it's already off the ground. I put the axle back in so nothing is loose, or laying around. Next is the front, floor jack with a piece of wood under the skid plate. Just high enough to get the tire/wheel out. Again, axle back in to keep everything together, AND so I can lower the jack, and use the axle to support the front end with anything that fits between the forks.
Very well said guys. My attempt at dry humor is not so good sometimes. Hell, I'm at a point now where I'm delegating more and more work to dealers and mechanics. OTOH I just purchased some special super compact tire tools so I can change out tires on the road if needed. I plan on running knobby's so there is a real possibility of doing a mid trip tire change.

I'll be trying these out next tire change in my garage:

From these 2 dinky palm sized bags
P5150002.JPGP5150003.JPG
To a full on bead breaker, spoons, wheel wedge, axle nut, and I also have a Motion Pro axle nut"hex" tool not shown:
P5150009.JPGP5150013.JPGfullsizeoutput_1ba.jpegfullsizeoutput_1b8.jpeg
 

Mak10

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I like to do the work myself, but if I had disposable income I would take it to the shop.

Breaking the bead is the hardest part of changing the tires for myself. I need to invest in the motion pro bead breaker.

I have also found that cutting the sides out of an empty oil jug makes great rim protection.
 

EricV

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I have a front fork stand, so remove the rear wheel first. If I do the front first, it makes the rear pivot down a bit, (front being on the stand), and gives less clearance to remove the rear wheel.
Center stand and front wheel/fork stand.
UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_129.jpg
 

RCinNC

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Now those are some damn fine looking tire changing tools, Chris. I'd feel guilty using them, the way you feel when you get the first scratch in the paint on a new car.
 

EricV

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Just a note on having the dealer change your tires Vs doing it yourself. I used to pay $9-15 a wheel for tire M&B from my local dealers. At that price I simply couldn't justify the cost and space of the equipment to do my own tires. Where I currently live, dealers and indi shops want $35-$80 a wheel, off the bike, to do a 10 minute M&B. I don't think so. They are idiots to charge that for such an easy job that gets customers coming in the door. Any shop with a tire machine that charges over $20 to do an off the bike tubeless tire M&B is just not seeing where their money comes from.
 

RCinNC

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When I started to really rack up miles after I retired, it just got to be unfeasible, both convenience-wise and financially, to have a shop change my tires. I started going through maybe three rear tires and a front each year; that's about $140 just for tire changes, not counting wasted time driving to the shop (which isn't conveniently located to me). $140 isn't a ton of money in general, but it is when I considered that I could spend that on something I actually wanted, rather than paying someone to do a task that was well within my abilities with just a few tools. Of course, you do have to wade through the online litany of opinions that you can't change modern tires with just spoons, and you gotta have a tire stand with a no-mar bar, and forget about spooning on an E07, just can't done, etc. It sucked the first couple times I did it, but eventually either the technique sinks in or else you give up and go back to paying someone. Much like open heart surgery or fighting with your girlfriend, it got easier with practice.
 
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RonH

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I like the tire change thing and always have enjoyed doing my own. Even if shops did it free, I would still do my own. I even do my own on cars and trucks even though it's almost always included in a price of tires. Everything they do I have to recheck for correct work anyway, so I figure might as well just do my own and be done with it and not worry of wheel falling off, scratched rims ect,
 

Kyle_E

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Not to drag the thread into another tangent..... But for those that do spoon their own tires, how well does the balance end up being using a manual stand? I used to work in a car tire shop and have electronic balanced about 20 billion tires. Just nervous about using a manual stand and fighting vibes. I hate vibrations, I'll tolerate engine vibes, but speed vibration from out of balance tires on a bike are the death of me. I spend most of my time 80~MPH

I get the friends and family discount at the local shop for $20 a tire I probably wont start doing them myself but something I've thought about when they are closed on a Monday.....
 
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ballisticexchris

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Not to drag the thread into another tangent..... But for those that do spoon their own tires, how well does the balance end up being using a manual stand? I used to work in a car tire shop and have electronic balanced about 20 billion tires. Just nervous about using a manual stand and fighting vibes. I hate vibrations, I'll tolerate engine vibes, but speed vibration from out of balance tires on a bike are the death of me. I spend most of my time 80~MPH

I get the friends and family discount at the local shop for $20 a tire I probably wont start doing them myself but something I've thought about when they are closed on a Monday.....
I've been balancing mine for a couple years now on a static balancer with no issues regarding vibration.
Static balance is the best most accurate way to go. Just take a peek at the Moto GP paddocks and you will see what they static balance all the wheelsets.
 
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ballisticexchris

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This is what has worked for me over the last few years.It's the Motion Pro. Very accurate. Strange thing is it took only like a half oz to balance this huge knobby!

IMG-0125.JPG
There are dozens of different static balancers out there. They all do the same thing. I like mine because it folds away. There are some very expensive ones such as the "Marc Parnes" or "No Mar" fancy ones.
 
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